Do you remember a few weeks (maybe months now) the article by
Victor Hanson calling a portion of Afghanistan "Marinestan"?
The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, retired three-star Army general Karl
W. Eikenberry, reportedly made a comment about there being 41 nations
serving in Afghanistan — and a 42nd composed of the Marine Corps. One
unnamed Obama-administration official was quoted by the Washington
Post as saying, “We have better operational coherence with
virtually all of our NATO allies than we have with the U.S. Marine
Corps.”
Some officials call the new Marine enclave in Nimruz
Province “Marinestan” — as if, out of a Kipling or Conrad novel, the
Marines has gone rogue to set up their own independent province of
operations.
Yet once again, it would be wise not to tamper with
the independence of the Marine Corps, given that its methods of
training, deployment, fighting, counterinsurgency, and conventional
warfare usually pay off in the end.
Well
"Marinestan" has formally declared its independence. This from the
DefPro (yeah its old but hey...I miss stuff too)...
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commanding general of the new
command, leads a combined force of about 27,000 personnel, with units
drawn from eight nations.
"It is a distinct privilege for all of us to stand up Regional Command
Southwest," Mills said. "We are truly building on the outstanding work
of all who have served here in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. This is a
natural military progression based on the number of troops serving here
and the priority placed on Helmand and Nimroz provinces."
Absolutely awesome. On the weekend of our nations birth, we also have the birth of a new command in Afghanistan...a US Marine Corps led command. Too cool.
